Coroner recommends new gambling measures

A Victorian coroner has recommended new measures to ensure children are not left alone in cars at gambling venues.

The recommendations follow an inquest into the death of 19-month-old Brian Yao.

He suffered heat stroke after he was locked in a car for two-and-a-half hours while his mother played poker machines at the Ferntree Gully Hotel in February 2000.

The court was told that after the baby's death, gambling venues erected signs warning people not to leave children unattended, introduced new staff procedures and installed clocks or windows in gaming rooms to help ensure patrons do not lose track of time.

Coroner Heather Spooner has acknowledged the efforts but recommends the signs be printed in a number of languages, that specific penalties be introduced for venue operators who breach safety regulations and that regular reviews be held to ensure responsible gaming codes are adequate.

It's a fundamental human yearning to be a part of something bigger than one's self, and maybe that's what drove my mate Ash to die, far from home, in a bloody foreign war against Islamic State, writes C August Elliott.